St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-12

toward tne top OF the car, and then became
insensible. On the way up realized that all
was confusion in the car; that canes, valises
rods OF iron and lamps were in the air about
me. must have regained my consciousness
in very short time, for when awoke all
was darkness in the car. and horrible shrieks
and piercing walls of agony almost
deafened my ears. In the end
of the car furthrest from me
the stove was overturned and the flames were
Just starting to spread with magic rapidity.
There was some sort of Il new gas lamp in
the car with a reservoir reaching from one to
the other. The flames leaped up the sides,
and in less time than can tell It, the gas was
burning the whole length of the coach over
our heads. l was wedged in between two
seats where l couldn't move a limb
of my body, and there watched
the fire slowly creep, upon me.
coach near the fire l could see lady caught
between the seats as was. The fire slowly
crept across the ear; she was soon enveloped
in flames, her dress caught fire and then in
agony she burned before my eyes. Just across
from my seat noticed, soon before the acct
dent, father, his wife and daughter / saw
them also crushed together and burned.
just as the flames were blazing but a foot or
two away from me man pulled me into the
aisle and said: Come to the window" He
must have mistaken me for some one else,
for the moment he looked closely at my face
he dropped me and hurried through the
window with an exclamation of evident dis
him in safety.
This afternoon when the reporters,
who had been long delayed in reaching
kOutS owing to the SecretiveneSS of
the railroad officials, began at last to ar
rive, there was little in the aspect of
the village to indicate the calamity that
had so recently taken place. All the
dead bodies had been
CAREFULLY REMOVED FROM SIGHT,
only twn of the WnnnHaH ctili in
the village, and the local employees of
the road were deaf and dumb to all
seekers after information. The coroner
had to go TO Huntington, over fifty
miles distant, to obtain the statements
of witnesses, and the villages seemed
wholly at sea regarding the extent of
the disaster. About the only person
willing to tell the details of the horror
was DIR. c. w. Mckee. The doctor is
a prOsperpus-loOking intelligent man of
thirty-seven, who promptly responded
in the dead of night to a call that he
take hand car to go to the scene of the
wreck, three miles from his residence.
DR.. Mckee rendered noble service. He
had Scant time to give his experience. in
detail, but stated that to the best of his
knowledge it would not be OverStating
the facts to say that the collision had
cost the lives of fully thirty people.
1t was shortly after 1 O'Clock
this morning when he reached
the wreck, and he Immediately began
to give his services to the wounded.
Those who were badly hurt when the
crash came, he says, must have had
had the cars taken fire, and so thorough
was the work of the flames. AS an il
luStratiOn of the destruction and the
difficulty of arriving at correct idea
of its magnitude, the doctor said
that not soul would have
been made aware of the all
but total wiping out of the Miller fam
lily of six, had not their boy been saved.
DR.. Mckee stated that only nine bodies
had been recovered and they were so
badly charred as to be almost beyond
recognition. The most left of scarcely
any of them being a blackened trunk.
handfuls of ashes. The nine were as
follows:
The Miller family of Dundee - father
mother, two brothers and girl. Their four
teen year-old boy, Herman, will probably die.
DIR. Perry, of North Judson, Ind, DIR. Per
rvs wife and DR.. Perry's daughter aged
eleven.
SUPERINTENDENT PARSONS,
of the Chicago IL Atlantic, was seen late
this afternoon, glOomily pacing the sta
ton platform. He was extremely taci-
turn, and was very sure that no more
bodies could be, by any possibility, UNI
der the wreck. Only nine persons had
been killed, he declared, and not more
than eleven or twelve hurt, none of the
latter seriously. He admitted that no
fiagman had been sent back from the
passenger train when stop was made
Mr.. Parsons said that the trainmen de-
Jnh fr11I
1000 feet in the rear of where the stop
was made. The conductor of the train
had pulled the cord for this light when
he stepped from his train. This would
throw the glare of red danger signal
on the track. The night, however, was
foggy and the engineer of the fast
freight must have failed to see the sig
nal. Supt. Parsons thought the acct
dent would have been very ordinary
one had not the stove in
the sleeper upset. That caused
the destruction of the sleeper,
two coaches and the baggage car, and
in the main was doubtless the cause of
the loss of life. Coroner Leatherman,
Mr.. Parsons said, reached the scene
from Valparaiso about IL 80 a. M, and
after viewing the debris and making
some inquiries, had found it necessary
to go to Huntington in search of wit
neSSeS. The wounded, Mr.. Parsons eX-
planned. had been taken there as early
as possible, and the passengers who
were unhurt to the number of twenty
five had been forwarded to their desti-
nation without delay.